Harmonizing the Gospel Accounts of the Resurrection

I put this page together to compare the four Gospel accounts of the
Resurrection, in order to take a look at Dan Barker's Challenge. I reproduce it
here:

The conditions of the challenge are simple and reasonable. In each of the four
Gospels, begin at Easter morning and read to the end of the book: Matthew 28,
Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21. Also read Acts 1:3-12 and Paul's tiny version
of the story in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. These 165 verses can be read in a few
moments. Then, without omitting a single detail from these separate accounts,
write a simple, chronological narrative of the events between the resurrection
and the ascension: what happened first, second, and so on; who said what, when;
and where these things happened.

Since the gospels do not always give precise times of day, it is permissible to
make educated guesses. The narrative does not have to pretend to present a
perfect picture--it only needs to give at least one plausible account of all of
the facts. Additional explanation of the narrative may be set apart in
parentheses. The important condition to the challenge, however, is that not one
single biblical detail be omitted.

For a "harmonization" that does not use all the facts from all the gospels, see
The Life of Jesus Christ in Stereo, by Johnston M. Cheney.

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Matthew 28

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from
heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead
men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are
looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place
where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples: `He has risen from the dead and
is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have
told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and
ran to tell his disciples.

Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped
his feet and worshiped him.

Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to
go to Galilee; there they will see me."

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the
city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.

When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they
gave the soldiers a large sum of money,

telling them, "You are to say, `His disciples came during the night and
stole him away while we were asleep.'

If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you
out of trouble."

So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And
this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Mark 16

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James,
and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were
on their way to the tomb

and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the
entrance of the tomb?"

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large,
had been rolled away.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe
sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene,
who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they
laid him.

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, `He is going ahead of you into
Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.
They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first
to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and
weeping.

When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they
did not believe it.

Luke 23

Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they
rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Luke 24

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took
the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that
gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground,
but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the
dead?

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was
still with you in Galilee:

The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be
crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"

Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the
Eleven and to all the others.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others
with them who told this to the apostles.

But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them
like nonsense.

Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the
strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to
himself what had happened.

John 20

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from
the entrance.

So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one
Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we
don't know where they have put him!"

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.

Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the
tomb first.

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did
not go in.

Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb.
He saw the strips of linen lying there,

as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth
was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went
inside. He saw and believed.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise
from the dead.)

0Then the disciples went back to their homes,

but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to
look into the tomb

and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at
the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord
away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did
not realize that it was Jesus.

"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him
away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the
Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, `I am returning to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the
Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.